OSLO, Sept 21 (Reuters) - The Norwegian central bank now sees its first rate hike “well into 2019”, its governor said on Thursday, after the bank left its key policy rate unchanged at a record low of 0.5 percent.

“If things are as expected, we are well into 2019 for the first rate hike, ” Oeystein Olsen told a news conference.

The central bank’s monetary policy report, which was published with the rate decision, now indicates a rate hike in the first half of 2019, against an earlier view the hike would come towards the end of that year. (Reporting by Joachim Dagenborg, writing by Gwladys Fouche, editing by Terje Solsvik)